...Ryan Stiskin APUSH Period 3 11/23/14 Mr.Polanis DBQ Accuracy of Political Beliefs The two main parties during the early 1800s included the Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans. The difference between the two parties was their choice of how the constitution should be interpreted. The Federalists followed a “loose” interpretation of the constitution, while the Jeffersonians followed a “strict” interpretation of the constitution. The Federalists and Jeffersonians each had their own interpretation of the constitution but were not always adamant in following it. The Jeffersonian Republicans were seen as “strict” constructionists and believed the constitution should be interpreted exactly as its written. The Jeffersonians wanted to...
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...gives of this in his essay is when Keohane describes a situation in which a group of people were asked if they believed there were WMDs in Iraq. Of all those who answered that they believed there was WMDs in Iraq, would not accept that this was in fact a lie and instead believed that there WMDs were in Iraq even more; regardless of the correction. This situation proves the concept of “backfire,” because it demonstrates the idea that the more an individual has to defend their beliefs or opinions, the more they in turn believe it to be true. He implies that people naturally defend themselves and put up that wall is because of their ignorance. Further stating that, “most of us like to believe that our opinions have been formed over time by careful, rational consideration of facts and ideas, and that the decisions based on those opinions, therefore, have the ring of soundness and intelligence.” This is a valid point and is of great importance because as he later states “we often base our opinions on our beliefs, which can have an uneasy relationships with facts… And rather than facts driving...
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...author, I was able to find a private publication based out of New Braunfels, Texas that is known to regularly share their personal opinions in every publication. On February 16, the NB Citizen released the article “Breaking News: McGonigal Turns Himself In, Released.” The reporter, Mike Reynolds made sure to share his point of view throughout the article, hoping to influence the thoughts of individuals in the small town of New Braunfels. This has been a continued story based off of the activities of the individuals in the chamber of commerce that this particular publication finds to be out of line. This has been a longstanding fight between the two parties and will not be ending any time soon. Reynolds notes, “McGonigal is a victim of a political witch hunt in retaliation for McGonigal’s outspoken criticism of New Braunfels’ city government.” (Reynolds, 2012) Through his personal ties with McGonigal, Reynolds continually jumps to the aid of McGonigal in order to protect his friends reputation. As the reader explores more of the details behind this article, information pours off of the page, showing a much deeper story than what is portrayed through the pages of this report. Through this continued “protection” of a friend, the authors credibility is greatly diminished and left to be based on opinion instead of factual writing. As a future teacher, this could become an issue when it comes to my own level of subjectivity. I can still look back today and see the point of view that...
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...To answer this question one must first understand that every politico-economic ideology, like every religious belief, proclaims that it has the one true doctrine and that all others are entirely different or at opposite ends. In most instances individuals join in voluntary association to act upon those opinions, ideas or beliefs which they hold in common. These opinions, ideas or beliefs may or may not be based on facts and hence most end with disastrous results. However once ideas have crystallized into organized action little question is raised to their feasibility or conformance to fact. Conclusively the objective of the group is either initially or ultimately the result of compromise being either very limited or very general in scope. This explains the ineffectiveness of the emotional approach and the political generality does not adequately define the project. The end result is the making of a mountain out of a molehill where the emphasis is on the exaggeration and reiteration of minor differences while ignoring what they have in common. Technocracy partakes one single element in that it is dependent on the voluntary association of individuals acting upon certain ideas upon which they are in agreement. Comparatively it differs from all other social movements since its common ideas are not the result of philosophic agreement. Technocracy does in fact in theory need science and technology to be based upon, but it is this "science and technology" that the populace...
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...described in the introduction paragraph of this editorial, “Legalize Drugs-All of Them” the author is a retired police officer whom favors legalization of all drugs. His subjectivity on the legalization of drugs is based on his life experience as an officer. His experience of daily handling situations created by drugs and drug use has molded his subjectivity on the legalization of drugs. He has been witness to many situations involving the subject at hand and has formed his opinion based on past experiences. The author’s subjectivity has influenced the opinion he expresses in his nonfiction work by illustrating that he feels as if drugs being legalized will help eliminate additional issues that are caused by drugs. His work expresses his belief that making drugs legal will inevitably create a more peaceful place for everyone to live, including the police officers who sacrifice their safety while fighting to keep drugs off of the street while, in his opinion, more imminent crimes need the attention of said officers. His work as an officer gives him a unique outlook on the subject and leads him to feel passionately about the legalization of drugs. His opinion is highlighted through his experience in the field as an officer. The author’s subjectivity is illustrated throughout his writing in many aspects. Aside from the excerpt stating his life experiences effect on his opinion, it is obvious of his subjectivity through his writing in this editorial. The author uses harsh analogies...
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...Megan Morrone Sigmund Freud and William James on Religion Intro to Philosophy Final May 3, 2013 The Will to Believe, an essay by William James, is a defense of religious faith in the absence of convincing logical facts or scientific evidence. James focuses on reasoning and choice in reference to the basis of belief. To James, when reasoning it is a necessity to recognize other considerations apart from those in which the evidence points to. If truth is the primary focus of our beliefs, sometimes it may necessary to take the risk of believing without solid evidence. Moreover, he clarifies that, although we sometimes have a choice in what we believe, there are many beliefs that we cannot will. James views faith in God as falling short of knowledge because we, as humans do not naturally experience the supernatural. However, he also explains that, such faith is sensibly meaningful to many people, and it is reasonable to wonder how, and to what extent it can be justified. James believes that both logic and science have limits beyond which we can legitimately seek rationality. James discusses genuine choice and stresses the three criteria for genuine choice; the choice must be live, forced, and momentous. In other words, personally meaningful, mutually exclusive and presented with an option and/or answer, and must involve potentially important consequences. James defines religion broadly, as having simply two elements, the first being that the best things are eternal, and second...
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...Questions and Discoveries Life is full of questions and discoveries. People question because they do not believe or trust in things or people. People discover because they want to find the answers to their questions. In Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima, the main character Antonio starts to discover and question beliefs and people. Antonio’s life changes when Ultima, a healer and her owl come to live with his family. Antonio’s mother is Catholic, but his father believes the llano has all the answers. Antonio is raised Catholic by his mother, but doubts God, especially after witnessing the death of Lupito and Narciso, and learning the legend of the golden carp. Ultima shares her pagan beliefs with Antonio, but...
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...disaster other than it playing a small role in Gods plan. The disaster opened the door for openly questioning God’s role in the natural world allowing for the growth of new ideas and the rejection of old and antiquated ones. In the end the earthquake in Lisbon presented such an intellectual crisis because it forced Philosophes and Theologians alike to question their own faith as well as the core beliefs that society was built upon. The sheer destruction of the event placed Theologians on the defensive as they attempted to rationalize the event while pushing Philosophes ever further from the core views of the church. While every disaster is a tragedy, the Lisbon earthquake sparked an intellectual crisis because of the disturbing nature of its destruction and the time period in which it happened. Occurring on All Saints Day 1755, disaster struck during the beginning of the Intellectual revolution, a period during the 18th century marked by a conviction in the “expanding literate sector that the human condition could be improve through science, education, philosophy, economic growth, and political reform.” Predated by nearly 1,000 years of near total religious control of the collective thought,...
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...MKT420 HW1 Article Summary Omar Salim AL-Ghamdi 201182370 The article: Why Customer Satisfaction Still Matters How attitudes, opinions and beliefs come together to form the basis for brand loyalty Perhaps the most disruptive of ideas to hit the market research community in the past several years has been the notion of ditching the long relied upon “customer satisfaction” model that researchers have leaned so heavily upon for years. A wave of recent methodological research has suggested that our five-point, Likert-scaled question “How satisfied were you with your experience?” no longer cuts it. It just doesn’t do an adequate job of predicting future customer spend. This attack has principally been led by proponents of the Net Promoter Score (NPS) method, which argues that it’s not satisfaction that matters, but rather, loyalty. According to studies by NPS architect Satmetrix, utilizing the assigned loyalty metric of how likely a customer is to recommend a brand or product produces predictive models that do a significantly stronger job of forecasting future brand spend than simply asking how satisfied customers were with their experience. As they rightfully argue, plenty of customers will leave a store completely satisfied with their experience, yet remain entirely unlikely to return based upon an abundance of variables that satisfaction models can’t account for. This results in retailers and service providers who sit befuddled in conference rooms across...
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...Essay #1 In Ann Bradstreet’s writings, it is clear that she is highly intelligent and well educated for the women of her time, with a large family library. Her writings are about what is around her: her religion, history, family, political and puritanical views. She had a difficult life with illness, hunger, and the loss of her child, but still she wrote with wit, love, and a sense of community. Religion and God’s plan play a crucial role in many of her writings. When she wrote, Upon the Burning of Our House, a sad, but forgiving poem, “And, when I could no longer look, I blest His name that gave and took,” she acknowledges her belief of God’s involvement in the fire, but doesn’t seem angry by it. “Thou hast an house on high erect, Fram’d by that mighty Architect…Stands permanent, though this be fled.” Anne Bradford was a very spiritual woman and believes God has a home for her in heaven and this home on earth is only temporary. To go to heaven would be “A prize so vast as is unknown” and “There’s wealth enough, I need no more.” She writes “My hope and treasure lies above,” evidences heaven is the ultimate destination. Anne Bradford seemed to be a very loving, respectful, and devoted wife to her husband Simon. In To My Dear and Loving Husband, she writes, “If ever two were one, then surely we…I prize thy love more than whole mines of gold…My love is such that rivers cannot quench…” The passion she feels for her husband truly shines in this poem. She may be considered one of...
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...Margaret Mead said “Always remember that you are absolutely unique. Just like everyone else (Mead).” As Westerners, we know that we are free to do as we choose and we sincerely do not like when someone tells us otherwise. What happens when we are faced with a situation where a group is telling us that what we know to be correct is, in fact, incorrect? As much as we believe that we are a free and independent people, British author Doris Lessing’s speech tells a different story. Lessing states that we “are now in possession of a great deal of hard information about ourselves, but we do not use it to improve our institutions and therefore our lives (Lessing).” Lessing spoke in 1985 about Western humans and how we perceive ourselves. She believes that Westerners are very educated and have a very high sense of self. Westerners go through life rarely questioning what others tell us, instead just accepting it as absolute truth. Americans especially are very prone to social pressures and feel significant pressure to conform. In the age of Facebook and Twitter, many adolescents feel an enormous amount of pressure from friends and social media about what they should look like, what they should be wearing, what music they should be listening to. Adults are no exception. Adults are pressured all through their lives that they should go to college, get married, and have children. Even if this is not something an individual wishes...
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...overcome her deaf/blindness, showing that she was human also.(ushmm.org) B. Inciting violence toward Jewish minorities persecution. Hitler knew in order to make his beliefs and ideas national that he had to concentrate his propaganda to a certain group of people. As seen in many of the propagandas the Nazi’s were producing, were giving Jews a degrading/ inhuman look. Thus leading to Anti-Semitism (hostility or prejudice toward Jews). The more Antisemitism Hitler could spread throughout the nation, the easier it would be for people to kill the Jewish without remorse. 1. Things that propaganda show to encourage hatred toward Jews a. “Hate, hunger, and pride make better levers of propaganda than do love or impartiality.”— Jacques Ellul b. Hate is the key factor to how Hitler got people to fall into his hands, and develop his mind set, and end the future for the Jews. 2. Why people believed Hitler a. “People believed in Hitler because of the lies he put into his speeches and media. With an underlying basis, the claims in his speech point to areas of great success in winning over the mass of the population to support for Hitler.” (spiegel.de) b. All the Germans wanted was success within their country and the best way to do it and according to Hitler’s speeches following him was the way to do that. C. Hitler gained political fame by spreading misleading information about public policy in Germany and aboard. [The Nazis] aimed to create and maintain the broadest possible level of popular...
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...As Berger alludes, the idea of works of art having a ‘Market Value’ is deeply disturbing. Market Value represents the value a society attributes to a commodity by the bidding of individuals in accordance with the subjective marginal utility each member of the society affords it. As art is highly coveted by most—due to the modes of oppression aforesaid— the problematic side effect emerges that only individuals in possession of wealth can acquire original works of art (without the implementation of radical art liberation, or theft as it is referred to by the laity.) All wealth can be assumed to be ill-gotten, as otherwise it would be a more ethical mode of influence, such as political clout. It is deeply disturbing that the patrons of the Getty would highly value the artwork just because most people highly value the artwork. As Berger concedes at the end of his work, it is based largely on the writings of Walter Benjamin. This particular German thinker is said to have subscribed to the little-known quant economic theory of Marxism. Those with an understanding of heterodox economic theories will understand why a case (such as the valuation of art in the marketplace) that contradicts the Labor Theory of Value may need to have some distortionary dimension invented in order to be explained (which of course isn’t to say the his thesis isn’t independently valid and representative of reality in its own right, could anyone imagine...
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...Isn't So The Fallibility of Human Reason in Everyday Life Thomas Gilovich THE FREE PRESS A Division of Macmillan, Inc. NEW YORK To Karen and liana Contents Acknowledgments 1. Introduction vn 1 PART ONE Cognitive Determinants of Questionable Beliefs 2. Something Out of Nothing: The Misperception and Misinterpretation of Random Data 3. Too Much from Too Little: The Misinterpretation of Incomplete and Unrepresentative Data 4. Seeing What We Expect to See: The Biased Evaluation of Ambiguous and Inconsistent Data 9 29 49 PART TWO Motivational and Social Determinants of Questionable Beliefs 5. Seeing What We Want to See: Motivational Determinants of Belief 6. Believing What We are Told: The Biasing Effects of Secondhand Information 7. The Imagined Agreement of Others: Exaggerated Impressions of Social Support 75 88 112 Contents PART THREE Examples of Questionable and Erroneous Beliefs 8. Belief in Ineffective "Alternative" Health Practices 9. Belief in the Effectiveness of Questionable Interpersonal Strategies 10. Belief in ESP 125 146 Acknowledgments 156 PART FOUR Where Do We Go from Here? 11. Challenging Dubious Beliefs: The Role of Social Science Notes Index 185 195 214 Four people made unusually significant contributions to this work and deserve special thanks. Lee Ross commented on drafts of many of the chapters and provided a number of his uniquely illuminating insights...
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...marketplace of ideas: the fact that the brand salesman obviously disagrees with that way of running a car show. Furthermore, this marketplace uses many means to pass on a message to people (newspapers, periodicals, schools, Internet, etc.). those means are from every sizes and descriptions, adapted to every taste and educational level. This is how we can relate that little story to religion, to explore the phenomenon of proselytism which is defined as seen earlier. Uzzell asserts that current human rights specialists define proselytism “to mean any attempt by any religious believer to win converts from other religions or from irreligion”. Proselytism, therefore, refers to the attempt to persuade others to change beliefs: in other words, to replace their former belief system with a different one. In the Old Testament, conversion is treated as a fully rational and voluntary choice made when thoughtful pagans recognize the superiority of God’s way over their own practices (“satanic”). As a result, Israel can be an example, God did not command missionary activity on the part of ancient Israel if we strictly stick to the Bible. That proselytism was to be non-verbal, only driven by work and God’s way of life (“Gentile converts”). In the New Testament, missionaries discarded the approach sanctioned by God. So we can recognize that neither the Old testament commissions to the prophets, nor the New Testament commissions to the apostles, remove the idea that God has always used the example...
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